Helen’s Cake Recipe
In the third chapter of Miss Macintosh, Helen sets out to fill her aunt’s shoes as grandly as possible. It’s baking day at Chiveley, and Helen has wonderful ideas for her culinary adventure.
The following is the real Shrewsbury Cake recipe from Amelia Simmons’ American Cookery, which Helen made twice, because the boys ate nearly all of the first batch. These sweet treats have the texture of cake with a crisp cookie edge. The raisins which the Macintoshes added for a special treat can be replaced with currents, or some other dried fruit if you prefer.
Shrewsbury Cake
(Unedited from American Cookery)
One pound butter, three quarters of a pound sugar, a little mace, four eggs mixed and beat with your hand, till very light, put the composition to one pound flour, roll into small cakes—bake with a light oven.
Recipe Halved and Adapted for Modern Day Cookery
Makes at least 24 cakes
1/2 lb butter, softened
7/8 cup sugar
1/8 tsp. mace
4 eggs, beaten
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup raisins (optional, used in Helen’s experiment)
Add mace to sugar and stir to combine. Cream together the butter and sugar/mace combination. Blend in the eggs, a spoonful at a time. Add in the flour and stir until smooth. The batter should be similar to cake batter, but a little stiffer. Fold in raisins. Drop by spoon onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper leaving plenty of room between cakes as they will spread a lot during baking. Bake in preheated 350ºF oven for 10-15 minutes until edges are golden brown and centre is just firm.
It may be amusing to our readers to include the note Miss Simmons adds:
“N.B. In all cases where spices are named, it is supposed that they be pounded fine and sifted; sugar must be dryed and rolled fine; flour, dryed in an oven; eggs well beat or whipped into a raging foam.”
After all, if cooking was more difficult, it must have been much more exciting in those days. People didn’t take it for granted that their flour was “dryed” when it came to them, and they got to whip their eggs into a “raging foam.”
Historical Note
The full original title of Miss Simmons’ book was, “American Cookery, Or The Art of Dressing Viands, Fish, Poultry and Vegetables, and the Best Modes of Making Pastes, Puffs, Pies, Tarts, Puddings, Custards and Preserves, and all kinds of Cakes, from the Imperial Plumb to Plain Cake. Adapted to This Country, and All Grades of Life.” This early American cookbook, appeared in 1796, “Published according to Act of Congress.”
Its aim was to provide practical instructions for cooking, especially for girls who had lost their parents, and needed explanations of “those things which are really essential to the perfecting them as good wives and useful members of society.” Although some of the instructions seem astonishingly vague to us today, and many conditions, particularly relating to cooking appliances, have changed dramatically, the recipes in this book give us a delightful picture of culinary operations in the early years of American history.
Do you have any suggestions for historical recipes that Helen could have made on a busy baking day?
Click Here to Read About Helen’s Adventures as Miss Macintosh